Under the Knife
by evilpoptart1
Summary: Dib uses Zim and Gaz's new found friendship to finally capture Zim. Will Zim survive? Read and find out. UPDATE: the long awaited final chapter is up!! READ!
1. A Friendship Broken

Hey, this is my first Zim fic, let alone my first fan fic ever! Weeeeeeeeeeeehehehehe! This one is gonna have three chapters, so sit back, grab a chocolate-bubblegum freezy and relax. I really enjoyed writing this fic and I hope you enjoy reading it. Oh yeah, and so that I don't get any nasty hate letters, this story really isn't a ZAGR (even though I have no problem with them), so I'm sorry if it seems that way to some of you. If you feel that you need to post nasty comments, then fook u!!! Gaz and Zim aren't in love, they're just friends. Oh yeah, and I don't own any of the Zim characters. They belong to that God known as Johnan. 

Under the Knife Chapter 1: A Frienship Broken

Bright, shining lights glared in the small irken's eyes. Although they were as bright as the sun itself, they seemed to cast a cold chill on Zim's body. His arms and legs were tightly bound down on the table as if he were the victim of some savage, primitive sacrifice. In only a matter of time, the dark room would be full of onlookers, watching his guts being cut out from his body as if he were some type of animal. It wouldn't matter to them that he was an intelligent being, for all they could see was a horrible monster. All though Zim's eyes should have shown fear and dread at that momment, the two bright rubies could only burn with the fires of hate and betrayal. 

"How did I get here?" Zim asked himself, all though he already knew the answer. It was because of her. She had betrayed him. 

Ever since he had landed on Earth, Zim had never had any other friend than GIR, if you can call him a friend. All though he did provide some companionship, his dilligent watching of the Scary Monkey show would always put Zim on the edge. However, he really didn't have any choice. It wasn't like any of the kids at skool could really be his friend. He had tried making one of these stinkbeasts his friend once, but it, Keeth, had turned out to be worse than GIR after downing a bag of sugar. So, he remained alone, without anyone but GIR and his ideas of world domination, until one day.

"GIR! YOU LEFT THE DOOR OPEN AGAIN!" Zim shrieked. DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME YOU DID THAT?! I HAD TO GO IN DIB'S DISGUSTING OVER-SIZED HEAD AND ERASE HIM MEMORY! THAT'S IT, NO CHOCOLATE-BUBBLEGUM FREEZIES FOR A WEEK! DO YOU HEAR ME!

However, Zim realized that GIR could not hear him because he wasn't there. In fact, GIR wasn't in the house at all. At first, Zim wasn't worried. This wasn't the first time that this had happened. GIR was probably in a dance club or riding around with hot girls. Since GIR didn't seem to be in any danger, Zim closed the open door with a shrug. However, after a few days, GIR still wasn't home. Also, the fact that Dib began to give him extra evil looks at lunch didn't make him feel much better. 

Finally, three nights later, Zim decided to go looking for GIR. It was obvious by now that he would be able to find him at Dibs house, no doubt about that. However, the thought occurred to him that he couldn't just walk over to Dib's house and ask for GIR back nicely. Dib would surely want something in return, mainly his own body to be disected. He had to be prepared. As he was about to flush himself down the toilet to his lab to do some upgrades on his backpack, there was a knock on the door.

"What madness is this?" he thought as he walked to the door. It had better not be Dib with a ransom note. However, to his surprise, it wasn't Dib at all. It was his sister, Gaz with GIR at her side, chewing on a cupcake. 

"GIR! YOU'RE HOME!" Zim cried. He had never imagined that he would ever be that happy to see GIR, which scared him a bit. 

"Look master! Gaz gave me a cupcake!" Gir said, holding up the wrapper that remained. When he realized that he had eaten it all, he started to cry a bit.

However, at that point, Zim wasn't paying much attention to GIR. His red eyes were fixed on Gaz, who was, of course, playing her Game Slave. After the "level complete" music started playing, she finally looked up.

"I like the color of your eyes," she said nonchallantly. Zim quickly put his hands on his head, realizing he had forgotton to put on his wig and contacts before he had stepped out. However, that wasn't the only thing that surprised him about Gaz's few words. She had knew all along. She was the only person besides Dib who knew his secret. She was, however a lot different from her brother. 

"Why…" Zim started, but was soon interrupted by Gaz.

"Dib stole my pizza again yesterday. I decided that ruining his plans would be more effective than dooming him." However, Zim sensed this wasn't the only reason.

"Wow, um…thanks," he said, as GIR ran inside to watch TV. 

"Whatever," said Gaz as she left, her fingers quickly pressing buttons. 

The next day at skool, another surpirsing thing occured. Instead of sitting in her usual seat next to Dib, Gaz moved to Zim's empty table. She claimed that she was no longer on speaking terms with Dib, and those were the only words uttered at the table for the rest of the period. However, as the days went on, Gaz continued to sit at Zim's table, despite the dirty looks she would get from Dib. At first Zim had thought Gaz was only trying to piss off Dib, but he soon saw this wasn't the case. Everyday, the two began to say a bit more to each other as Gaz furiously pressed buttons. However, their conversations soon got to the point that Gaz would stop playing her Game Slave (only for a little while of course). 

In no time at all, they had become, what people on Earth call friends. Strangely enough, it was hate that had brought them together. Not hate for each other, but hate of the world and Dib. On warm, sunny days, they would lay in the grass and look for clouds shaped like monsters and go into long, gory disscussions about how it could eat Dib. They were two loners who had found the beauty of friendship. Zim would often find himself telling Gaz about his planet, his mission, and how incredibly short he was and she would listen. Never did Zim imagine that a human could be so nice. 

Everything was going perfectly, until one day. In his skool locker, Zim found a small note. As he unwrapped it, it said:

__

Meet me today after school behind my house. I have surprise for you.

"A surprise?" Zim thought. No one on this planet had ever given him anything but grief. For the rest of the day he could do nothing but look at the note and watch clock as Ms. Bitters droned on about how they were living wasteful, meaninless lives. When the school bell rang, he quicly dashed out of skool. However, unfortunately for Zim, he did not see the wicked smile on Dib's face. 

"Gaz…are you here yet?" he called into the empty backyard upon arriving at her house. "Strange," he thought, but his thoughts were soon cut off when a large, metal cage dropped on him from above. In both surprise and shock, Zim began shaking the bars and cursing in his native tongue. However, a well aimed rock towards his head stopped his rantings as he began to loose consiousness. The last thing he remembered was Dib's cruel laugh and feeling stupid, hurt, and betrayed.

Aw, poor Zimmy. Let it be known that I'm not posting the next chapters until I get a few reviews. Yes, I am an evil toaster pastry. 


	2. Escape

Wow, thanks a bunch for all the reviews. I didn't expect to get 7 reviews in a day. So, to say thank you, I've decided to post this chapter today. Just so you know, I wrote this entire story before posting any of it, so I promise you all that you shall hear the end of the story. However, since I have a huge project at school this week, I'm not going to have as much time as I would like on the net. Therefore, don't expect to see chapter 3 until this upcomming weekend. Oh yeah, one more thing. I'm sorry about some of the spelling mistakes in the last chapter. The thing is, the spell check on my computer has gone wacky and I'm not a great speller to begin with. So, please ignore any mistakes you may see in this one (I tried my best to get them all out). Well, now that's out of the way, enjoy the next chapter, and don't forget to review!

Chapter 2: Escape

Slowly, the door creaked open, causing Zim to jump with surprise. A shadow drifted into the room which ressembled an evil demon. What actually came in though was much worse. Dib slid into the room, carrying a tray of assorted instruments, each one seeming sharp and pointy as they gleamed under the lights of the room. However, it was Dib's smile that was scarier than any knife or probe on the tray. 

"Hello Zim, I see that you're comfortable," he said with an awful, gloating smile. Zim averted his fiery eyes to the other side of the room. He refused to see the pleasure in Dib's face, let alone give him any more. The fact that Dib had won was more than he could bear. 

"I told you it would only be a matter of time Zim," Dib said cooly as he placed the tray next to the table. "We both knew it would come to this. Me, finally getting the respect I deserve and you," an evil smile grew on his face," will be cut up on an autopsy table." At these words, Zim gave Dib of look of pure hate and venom. However, his hate for Dib was nothing compared to that of Gaz. At that moment he wanted to break free from his bonds and latch his claws on Dib's neck and squeeze the very life out of him like a grape. Sensing these emotions, Dib, for a moment was a bit unnerved by the fury he saw in Zim's crimson eyes, however, he quickly recovered, assuring himself that the alien couldn't get loose. 

"As you may have already guessed, you're in one of the basement rooms of the Swollen Eyeball Society. In about a half an hour, they will all see I was right all along and your screams shall be heard from miles away." At that point, Zim just couldn't take it anymore. 

"SHUT UP YOU STINK BEAST!! I WILL NEVER GIVE YOU THE PLEASURE OF THAT!!! YOU MAY THINK THAT YOU HAVE WON, BUT JUST WAIT!! I CURSE YOU AND YOUR SISTER!!!" At the mention of Gaz, Dib's smile began to resemble that of a crocodile. 

"Did you think she ever actually liked you? Yes Zim, it was all a set up. When I first mentioned the idea to her, she said that she refused to be anywhere near that "dorky alien." However, she finally agreed to help me if I bought her pizza for a year and the new Game Slave 3. From her, I got all the information I need about you and your planet. Now all I have to do is see what is inside." His eyes gloated and jeered at the hurt expression on Zim face. How he was loving Zim's agony and pain. Every sign of defeat on his face was each a small victory for Dib. For years he had dreamed of this moment, and fame seemed closer than ever before. The power he had over Zim gave him an overwellming sense of superiority. 

"Gargantuan headed fool boy," replied Zim, lacking any emotion. He was too pained to put in the usual vigor and emphasis in his words. Dib had hit him where it really hurt, his heart (or at least the irken equivalent). The mere thought that Gaz, his best friend, betraying him felt worse than any festering wound. He felt as if he had been stuck with a hundred knives and needles, each deeply embedded into his body. It was no use hiding these feelings from Dib because he knew, he knew he was in terrible, emotional pain.

"Whoops, almost forgot," Dib said as his eyes strayed to the tray. "I left out a few tools. I'll be right back." Zim's eyes followed Dib to the door. Suddenly, Dib stopped, and turned around, with an unpleasant smile. "Now don't you go anywhere Zim," he said, before slipping out of the room.

At that moment, Zim's hatred turned to fear. Every threat of his "impending doom" that Dib had ever made filled his mind(_"Soon your Zim guts will be strewn, all over an autopsy table_!"). Every gory picture of his body being hacked apart and mangled increased the speed of his breathing to higher and higher levels. How he had once laughed at those things and put them down as foolish madness. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever believe that Dib could actually catch him, an invader. 

His eyes turned to the tray that Dib brought in earlier. As he looked at each instrument, he imagined how they would cut through his skin, splatter his blood, and prod his insides. His eyes stopped on the scalpel, which he could almost feel tearing slowly and painfully through his skin, starting at his chest and moving its way down. The thought of the unbearable pain that would spread throughout his body made him feel queasey. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop these thoughts from flashing over and over in his mind.

"Will I scream?" he thought. "Will the pain be that bad? Oh irken God please don't let me scream. I can't afford to show that weakness."

However, even if he was able to bear the autopsy, he was still doomed. If he did survive the autopsy, Dib would know his weaknesses. He could be put through terrible torture, or worse, A ZOO! It was then he knew he had to get out. The question was, how? 

Suddenly, Zim remembered his backpack and the spiderlegs. One of the legs shot out and proceeded to pick the locks of his restraints. Quickly, he began his task, knowing that any second, Dib could burst through the door and ruin any of his hopes of escaping, let alone living. In a few minutes, he had unlocked all of them. As he pulled his foot from the last one, the door creaked open. In came Dib, carrying a particularly nasty looking probe in his hand. However, he soon dropped it when he saw what was in front of him, an empty table. He was in such a state of shock, that he didn't hear the door close softly behind him, or the flash of two, bright crimson ovals. 

"What…where…," Dib studdered as he walked towards the table. "No, no, no, no," Dib cried as he pounded the table. However, he was interupted by an attack from behind. As Dib had came into the room, Zim had used his spider legs to climb onto the ceiling and lie in wait. After Dib had come in the room , he had jumped down and crept up behind him until they had reached the table. At that point, Zim leapt and quickly pinned Dib to the table.

"Zim!" cried Dib. "How…you were…I was…"

"SILENCE!" Zim cried with a renewed sense of vigor. "I told you that you didn't know what you were dealing with, Dib. Despite your foolish efforts, I was still able to escape. I'm not called an invader for nothing. You thought you had complete control, didn't you Dib? You thought you finally had me. Well it seems now it is I, ZIM, who has the power!" Zim's eyes flamed with fires of delight. Dib's sqirming body fed his lust for vengence over his enemy. For the first time that night, he actually felt happy.

"Wh-what are you gonna do to me Zim?" Dib studdered. Only a few minutes ago the irken was at his complete mercy, but now, the tables had turned.

"Nothing now Dib. There are too many people here. If they see that something has killed you, then they'll know you were right. However, if I leave you here, without proof, they'll just dismiss you as crazy once again. But…," Zim paused for a second and picked up one of the knives on the tray," someday, you'll know what it is like to be on the operating table Dib." Zim grinned viciously as he pointed the knife in Dib's direction and made a slicing motion across his throat.

"But…I'm not the alien, you are!" Dib cried as he strugelled under Zim's grasp.

"You are on my planet," Zim said cooly. With that, Zim took off down the hall as quickly as he could. Dib, being to shocked to follow, fainted.


	3. Revenge

Thanks for waiting. I kind of left all my work till the last minute so u can imagine how busy I was. Anyway, I am now pleased to present…..(drum roll) THE CONCLUDING CHAPTER! I hope that you all enjoy it. Once again, I repeat, I do not own any of the Invader Zim characters, for they are owned by Johnan the Great. 

Chapter 3: Revenge:

After sufficiently scaring Dib, Zim took off as fast as he could and bolted out the nearest window. Once he hit the ground, he instantly got up, despite the pain in his left leg. Since it was dark outside (it's not like the brain dead people of the planet would notice anyway though), he activated his spider legs and stealthily sped down the street. If anyone had been on the streets that night, all they would have seen would be flash of green and nothing more. The only thing on his mind at that moment was getting as far away as possible from Dib and the Swollen Eyeball Society. He forced himself not to let the fear that had burst inside of him to take over, or else he might not be able to concentrate on the one thing he wanted most, getting back to the base. Every street he crossed, every alleyway he passed by, he could swear that he could hear someone following him, someone who wanted to bring him back to that horrible place.

Finally, upon arriving at his house, he threw open the door, knocking down the parent decoys. Ignoring the sparking piles of metal on the floor, he jumped over them and locked the door. Tired and scared, Zim collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. He had survived. Although he had sounded pretty tough back in the autopsy room, he was actually more frightened than he had made Dib. His mind kept on thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't unlocked his restraints fast enough, or if Dib wasn't so forgetful. The images of his lifeless, bloody body haunted his mind. 

As he was panting on the floor, Zim noticed something clutched in his right claw, the knife he had threatened Dib with. A shiver ran down his spine as it gleamed in the moonlight coming through one of the windows. Once again his mind drifted to thoughts of the knife slicing open his green skin, spewing out his blood. Quickly, he threw it into a corner, as if merely touching it had burned his hand.

"Master! You're home!" cried a familiar voice. Painfully, Zim lifted his head and his eyes met with two cyan orbs. 

"GIR!" he said, immediately latching onto the small robot and embracing it. Never before in his life had been so happy to see GIR, let alone be alive to see him. 

"Awww I love you too master!" replied GIR as he squeezed Zim a bit too hard.

"GIR! STOP! ACK! MY SPINE!!!! THE PAIN!!!," cried Zim. Noticing the TV clicker nearby, he grabbed it and changed it to the Scary Monkey channel. Instantaneously, GIR dropped Zim for the filthy, grunting primate on the screen. Sighing and shaking his head, Zim flushed himself down the toilet to ponder in his underground lab.

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Now that he was back in his secret lab, Zim felt a wave of relief wash over him. The computer, his usual seat, and the various experiments in progress made him feel safe and secure. Being calmer gave him a chance to think of what was important now, revenge.

He left his thoughts of being dissected to that of Gaz, and the lies she had told him. Everything she had ever told him, every smile, every laugh had been planned. To think that he believed her, even trusted her. To think he thought that someone could actually like him enough to be his friend. At this last thought, he felt a gaping hole form in his chest that began to suck the very life out of him. Of course, no one on this filthy planet could ever like him, a.. green freak! That would all change though. That would all change. When he was lord of all humans, they would bow before him and his iron fist. They would all love, adore, and most of all, fear him! No one could ever be able to hurt him, not even her!

Zim's antennas sprang up from their droopy, sad position and his eyes gleamed with the thoughts of an evil plan. She would pay for her treachery. Quickly, he pulled out a piece of paper and furiously scribbled down some calculations. 

"Gaz will be sorry she ever messed with this invader!" thought Zim as his writing on the paper began to resemble stabbing motions. As Zim raised up his plans, an evil, twisted smile crossed his face. "She shall suffer!"

(back at the Membrane household)

Gaz sat on the couch, watching TV and playing her Game Slave 3 at the same time, an art that she had perfected over the years. As she had just beat the last level for the 50th consecutive time, she hopped off the couch. Reaching the kitchen, she opened the door to the refrigerator to get a soda to celebrate. As usual, Dib had drunk the last one.

"He….shall…pa.." Gaz began to say before she wuz cut off by the earth shattering explosion that had blew out one of the kitchen walls. Too shocked to finish dooming Dib, she stumbled outside to see what had caused the destruction. Her eyes met with those of Zim, perched high in the air on his mechanical spider legs. He was holding a strange looking gun and man did he look pissed.

"Um, if you're looking for Dib, he's at his stupid Pink Eye meeting or something," said Gaz slowly. She had never, ever, seen Zim look as enraged as he did now. His eyes were a bright, blood red color and he was clenching his fists so tight, it looked as if his claws would cut into his skin at any moment.

"I wasn't looking for Dib, Gaz,"replied Zim. His voice sounded like that of a demon from the very depths of hell itself. Every word he uttered sent a shiver down Gaz's spine. "In fact, I was looking for you." At these words, Zim pointed his death ray straight at her.

"Me, what the hell did I do?" cried Gaz in both desperation and anger. 

"What did you do? What did you do!!!" screamed Zim, allowing the madness to consume his thoughts. All he could focus on was killing Gaz, slashing her throat, mutilating her body, and blowing her to small pieces which he would trample upon with his boots of doom! "You know perfectly well what you did Gaz. You betrayed me! Don't look so innocent. Dib told me everything at his little Swollen Eyeball Society!"

"What were you doing there?" asked Gaz, becoming extremely confused.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" said Zim in bittersweet tone. "When you agreed with Dib to feign a friendship with me, you knew what would happen to me. That's right, cut up on an autopsy table and left to look at like a filthy monkey in a zoo! Dib would have done it too if it wasn't for my irken training. I escaped Gaz, and now I've come to pay you back the favor." At these last words, Zim carefully took aim. As his claw moved for the trigger, something hit his head, hard. Forgetting about Gaz for a moment, he rubbed his bruised head and looked down at what had injured him. It was Gaz's gameslave. 

"What the hell do you mean by accusing me of that shit!" The angry tone in Gaz's voice would have made even the tallest invader to run away screaming. Her chest rapidly fell up and down and her right eye became larger than the left. It was then that Zim's antenna quickly dropped as well as his courage. He knew what could happen when Gaz got pissed off. "Are you crazy! You almost killed me you outer space bastard! I hope you like nightmare worlds Zim because that's where you're going." At that, Gaz grabbed one of the spider legs and jerked Zim down, causing him to cry out. Quickly, she jumped on top of Zim and pulled back her fist, ready to punch in his head.

"Wait, Gaz, STOP!!!!" cried Zim as he defensively put up his claws. "You mean you didn't agree with Dib to befriend and betray me for a year's worth of pizza and that new gameslave?"

"Of course not!" said Gaz. "Where did you get such a screwed up idea?"

"Um…Dib back at the lab before he..um..tried to cut me up,"said Zim unsurely.

"Oh," said Gaz, lowering her fist of doom. "That makes a lot of sense I guess. Dib is pretty dumb. However," Gaz punched Zim hard in the arm, causing Zim to cry out. "That's for believing him."

"I'm sorry Gaz," said Zim, lowering his eyes to the ground. "You're right, I shouldn't have gone all psycho like that."

"Hey, I can't blame you." Gaz offered Zim her hand, which he gratefully received. Painfully he got back on his feet. "If I thought you were the reason for me almost getting killed, I would wan go medieval on your ass too."

"Really?" 

"You know it Zim," replied Gaz, smiling at the nice sized bruise on Zim's arm. "Now common, let's look at the stars. You can point out to me where that exploding head planet is again."

"But, um, what about your wall?" Zim pointed at the charred remains of Gaz's kitchen. 

"Oh, that," Gaz looked over at the ex-kitchen nonchalantly. "I can just blame that on Dib. He blows things up all the time with his dorky little experiments. Dad won't notice a thing anyway, with his job and all." At these last words, Zim caught a hint of sadness.

"Gaz, I…"

"Don't worry about it Zim. We're still friends, and that's better anything I could ask for, including a more loving father. Now common, I want to hear more about these demonic planets you've told me about."

And so, the two walked down the street, laughing about slaughtering rat people and what would happen if Dib was "accidentally" sent there. That night, Zim had learned the most important thing he would ever learn on Earth, the strength of a bond between two friends.

Well, what did you think? I've been told by close friends that having Gaz and Zim kill Dib would have been a better way to end it, but I like to leave things on a good note personally. Besides, I can always save that for the sequel (yes, I am thinking of making one). So, whether u liked it or not, please post your feelings. Remember, this was my first fic, so I need all the advice I can get. Thanks again!!! And also, next time u see your electrical appliances burning, remember, it was probably me, pyro-poptart!


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